


Groose Changes His Groove

by BrownieFox



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-25 14:49:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18263543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrownieFox/pseuds/BrownieFox
Summary: Groose builds the Groosenator





	Groose Changes His Groove

Groose moped about for the first day.

He doesn’t go back up to the sky but doesn’t explore the surface, walking up and down the spiral outside of the temple.

He can’t save Zelda and he can’t fight the scaled black monster. So he mopes.

At the bottom of the spiral cliffs is the spike that he stays well away from, remembering the sluggish bleeding of Link’s arm when he’d come back to the temple after driving the monster back. There’s splotches along the walls that at first he doesn’t take much note of, but his tenth time making the bored-anxious-helpless trip down he started to be able to make out images of the splotches.

When it got dark he re-entered the temple to find that the old woman had put down some kind of mat and blanket and pillow for him. He was still processing this new world that, even though he hadn’t explored any of it, stretched on forever in any direction, and so he didn’t question it, just layed down, thinking about nothing and everything until he fell asleep. 

 

oOo

 

The next morning, Groose got up and stretched out. He had a bit of a bruise on his side from the not quite gentle landing yesterday. The old woman wasn’t sitting in front of the stone doors anymore. Instead, she was outside standing above the spiral cliffs. A few of the small birds hopped around a little ways away but quickly flew over to perch on his shoulders and head.

“Are you staying?” She asked. She turned towards him but it was hard to see if she was really looking at him. Her face was so wrinkly, skin saggy and old, a single white mark on her cheek. It was safe to say that she was the oldest person Groose had ever seen. 

Groose didn’t answer at first. What reason did he have to stay here? The old lady had said he still had a part to play in all of this, but if he did then it was a complete mystery to himself. He wasn’t the hero Link was apparently supposed to be -  _ Link _ of all people. He didn’t have a sword or a shield, hadn’t even graduated from the academy. But what would returning back to Skyloft be able to do? School wasn’t really in session right now, taking a break after the Wing Ceremony as well as the fact that the Headmaster was having trouble focusing what with his daughter missing.

“Yeah, I guess.” Groose said with a sniff, folding his arms and turning away. He heard a chuckle from behind him and turned around to see the folds on the old lady’s face had shifted as she smiled.

“Come then.” 

The old woman turned away and walked back into the temple. A little hesitantly, still unsure exactly what to make of her, Groose followed after. He raised an eyebrow upon seeing the eye-like emblem on the back of her cloak, but decided he didn’t care enough to ask. She walked at a slow pace, going over to a spot of grass that a beam of sunlight fell directly onto. She reached into a pot and pulled out a bundle of cloth, holding it out to him.

“Thanks…?” Groose said and he took it. It was heavier than it looked, the weight oddly displaced throughout it.

“It’s dangerous here. Take these.” She said. Groose carefully unwrapped them to find a collection of knives inside.

“What?!” He squawked, unable to help himself.

“There should be some fruit trees just beyond that door. Why don’t you go get us some?” The old woman said instead of an explanation. She walked back to the spot she seemed to always sit in, hair braid swinging back and forth almost hypnotically.

There was indeed fruit hanging from a tree outside. It took Groose three attempts to hit it with one of the knives and two more to get it to fall. He regarded the odd creature holding a map warily, but it didn’t attack him so he didn’t attack it. 

He spent the rest of the day practicing throwing the knives at bamboo a short distance from the temple.

 

oOo

 

“What do we do if the monster comes back?” Groose asked, staring down the cliffs. Granny - he’d asked her name but she had denied him an answer - was standing next to him.

“Link defeats him.” She hummed as if it were obvious. Groose wrinkled his nose up.

“What if Link’s not here?”

Granny hummed again but didn’t say anything. Groose frowned. 

 

oOo

 

Groose wiped the seat from his brow. It had seemed like a good idea at first, exploring the other places on the surface, but this place was just so  _ hot.  _ The red-orange-yellow molten stuff was everywhere. He’d only ever heard about lava in legends, and those did not do it justice. He’d spit in it just to see what’d happen and it had evaporated immediately. 

As he explored around, he found a odd blue fruit. Curiosity got the better of him and he plucked one, knowing better than to just sink his teeth in. The top of it sparked and he dropped it in shock. It rolled away from him, falling into the lava where, upon contact with the hot liquid-y substance, it exploded. Groose was caught in a bit of the blast, pushed back, smoke from it clogging into his lungs. 

He coughed, but it dissolved into a chuckle. Another of the ‘fruits’ had already regrown to replace the other and he picked that one as well, curiously watching as it sparked again. He bounced it in his hand and rolled it a little ways away. After another moment this one exploded as well, much to his delight. 

The surface was fascinating. 

 

oOo

 

“Granny, have you ever had pumpkin soup before?” 

The old woman turned her head to face him a bit more. Her braid swung without pause. 

“No. I haven’t seen so much as a pumpkin in many years.” Her old ragged voice replied. 

“Well, then consider this a bit of payment for the ‘bed’.” Groose held out the bottle for her. The still-warm orange soup left steam where the soup didn’t touch. She took it into the her wrinkly hands. She uncorked it with seeming ease and took a swig from it, cheek-wrinkles pushing back as she smiled.

“Delicious. It’s been too long since I’ve had new food.” She mused. 

“I can bring you more later.” Groose said with a grin.

“I do think I’d like that.”

 

oOo

 

Groose followed Granny down the spiral cliffs to the bottom. He regarded the spike warily. It hadn’t done anything bad since Link had dealt with it but it was only a matter of time. Granny had said so herself, that this new seal wouldn’t last long. 

The old woman came to a stop in front of one of the vague mural-splotches. She ran a hand down it, a gesture Groose didn’t entirely understand.

“Groose, tell me, have you heard the legend of the Goddess before?”

“Not… really.” Groose admitted. He’d always tuned it out during class. He knew Hylia had sent them into the sky for their own good or whatever, but it wasn’t until he was actually down here that he’d even believed there was a surface. 

“Then I will tell it to you now. This… this is a tale you human have passed down through uncounted generations…”

 

oOo

 

Groose carefully dug around the bomb flower. 

All he had at his disposal to do so was one of his knives that he had decided to sacrifice to the task and his own hands. The red dirt of Eldan was already under his nails and covering his hands, staining the knees of pants. He kept working though, cutting through some of the roots and wincing each time, looking up to see if the lop of the flower was sparking. But it didn’t and he continued until he could lift it out of the soil. He carried it carefully in his arms and hiked up to the tallest peak closest to him and whistled for his bird.

It took a few whistles, as it always did, to convince his loftwing to come down so low, but they were two halves of a whole and wherever Groose went, his loftwing would be willing to follow. He climbed onto the gray bird’s back and took off into the sky.

It felt good, being back in the air, above the clouds, where he was home. He held onto the cord around his loftwing’s neck with one arm while the other stayed wrapped around the bomb flower. He directed his bird towards the green beacon, glowing clearly despite the sun being high in the sky.

The loftwing got fidgety once they got below the cloud layer but Groose urged him onwards. He didn’t have Link’s sailcloth and couldn’t risk just randomly jumping off of his bird. They landed where Groose and Link had fallen that first time. Groose climbed off and his loftwing gave him a pat on his head with his beak before taking off, clearly not wanting to spend another moment so close to the ground. 

Groose watched the other half of him recede into the sky. He had plans down here, but he couldn’t deny that being so far from the loftwing didn’t feel quite right. 

With a sigh, he focused back at the task at hand, heading to the temple. Granny was sitting in her usual spot and Groose waved at her as he passed through, going straight to the Sacred Grounds. He’d already picked out a spot to plant the Bomb Flower, sending up a prayer to Hylia that this worked.

 

oOo

 

It did work. 

Much more than he’d anticipated.

“It’s huge!” Groose shouted, staring at the Bomb Flower. Granny chuckled.

“Faron Woods is known for its fertile soil. Why do you think there’s so many fruits here?” 

“Because there were trees? I don’t know, I don’t think that much!” Groose rubbed his hands down his face. “Dammit, how am I supposed to throw these at the Imprisoned if he breaks out now?”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something.” Granny reassured and went back into the temple. 

And think of something Groose did.

He ran right out to the usual landing spot and summoned his loftwing, taking back to the air and to Skyloft. If he couldn’t throw them, then he’d just have to make something to throw them for him! 

It took him a moment to find the guy he was looking for, but eventually he found him near one of the windmills at the edge of town.

“Jakamar, I need to borrow some of your tools.” Groose strode forward. There was a weary sigh from Jakamar, who shook his head.

“Groose, you really think I’m going to trust you with my tools? After the last time I let you use them and you dropped my hammer off the edge?” Jakamar folded his arms. “Not to mention everybody has heard about what you did with Link’s loftwing during the wing ceremony. I swear, you get worse every year.”

Groose took a step back. Initial anger welled up inside of him but was quickly overtaken by a shame that brought heat to his face. 

“Daaadddyyyy,” Kukiel, standing next to Jakamar, tugged on his shirt, “We gotta be nice!”

“Right, for your friend.” Jakamar sighed, ruffling his daughter’s hair. She giggled. He shook his head at Groose one more time but gestured for the young man to follow him. “C’mon, I think I have some extra tools.”

 

oOo

 

It took a while. 

He first had to take out the metal fence, wrenching it out of the ground, often narrowly avoiding falling off the ledge several times. He put it to the side in case he needed it later.

There were so many trees in Faron, and it felt almost wrong to chop some of them down but Groose needed the wood. Sweat collected on him as he worked, the days warm and the nights cool, working in a continuous and constant motion that made his the muscles in his arms burn. 

He’d wake up early in the mornings, maneuvering through the woods that he was starting to know so well and taking a dip in a pool of water, cleaning off the salt that had collected on him the day before and readying himself to start again. He shaped the wood from the fallen trees, cutting them up further until they were boards and beams that he could use. Pieces of wood stuck into his palms and fingers. Granny would held him remove them and would use some kind of magic the heal the worst of them, but the smaller of cuts stayed and bled gently into the wood, mixing with his sweat. 

The small surface birds surrounded him, watching him work, nesting in his hair and chirping in his ears things that he didn’t understand. They were his constant company wherever he went in Faron, assuaging a bit of his longing for his loftwing.

Some days Granny would convince him to take a break and they’d walk through the woods, Groose charged with keeping any monsters at bay. She introduced him to the odd creatures that inhabited the woods, that ran at the sight of him at first but gradually became comfortable with his presence. Groose told stories of all the stupid things he had done and Granny would chuckle or, occasionally, let out a full belly laugh that had taken Groose by surprise at first but had become something he always hoped to bring out in her, an infectious thing that made him join in too, even if he was embarrassed by the actions he had once displayed. 

He took the metal of the fence and paid Gonzo to melt it down into nails and long rods that would become the track for his invention. The blacksmith looked at him oddly, but Groose was too excited to continue working to care. 

At one point he did fall off a ledge, landing on the harsh ground below and having to slowly climb his way back up the temple. Granny cared for the wound, bruised ribs and nothing more, and warned him to be more careful next time. He made no such promise. He did rest up, sitting in a spot of the temple where the sunlight poured through the ruined roof. Rain had come during the night and this surface world was awash in an earthy smell that seemed to calm Groose’s nerves. 

It took a few tried to get the mechanism on the catapult right, but he managed it after some trial and error and was able to send the first bomb flower flying through the air, exploding into the sides of the cliff satisfyingly. He sat back, proud of the work.

He’s sore all over, he’s tired, but he’s never felt so good about himself in his life.


End file.
